President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, at their home, the western white house "Casa Pacifica" in August 1969. It was established in San Clemente during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Arriving home in San Clemente in 1972 from his triumphant renomination for president in Miami Beach, President Richard Nixon addresses a crowd that gathered at the Western White House chanting "four more years."

President Richard Nixon had been in the White House three months when rumors arose in San Clemente that the new president might buy the old Cotton estate.

In March 1969, the Nixons explored southern Orange County, inspecting properties. Rumor had it that the Nixons had looked over a house in Laguna Beach but the Secret Service had security concerns.

On a visit to Mission San Juan Capistrano, the president invited residents and press to dinner at El Adobe to introduce the media to “one of my favorite Mexican restaurants,” he said. He would return there often over the next five years.

In April, the Nixons purchased the 20-acre Cotton estate. In June, nearly 4,000 residents were allowed on a Coast Guard station next to what would become known as the Western White House to greet the president. The San Clemente High School band played “Hail to the Chief” as a tanned, relaxed Nixon stepped off a military helicopter, joking with Mayor Wade Lower and asking if he was the one who was going to fix Nixon’s parking tickets.

Then, using words that he’d echo the day he resigned from office and return home to San Clemente in 1974, Nixon said, “We are very happy to be home again in California and have you as neighbors.”

It was one of only two times the public was let into the Nixon compound to greet the president. The other time was after Nixon’s 1972 renomination at Miami Beach.

His first 1969 visit was short, but in August the Nixons stayed a month at their new seaside retreat. Meanwhile, the San Clemente City Council wrestled with the first of many groups that wanted to demonstrate during presidential stays. The council denied a parade permit to the Peace Action Council. Undeterred, groups showed up to demonstrate anyway along a street, renamed Avenida del Presidente, that led to the Western White House.

Nixon’s daughters Tricia and Julie gave him a surfboard. There is no evidence he ever used it. He said he liked watching surfers during long walks on the beach. On this trip he went downtown to purchase three beach balls at the hardware store.

President Lyndon Johnson and wife Lady Bird Johnson were guests in August 1969, as San Clemente residents got used to international notoriety. Foreign ministers conferred with the president. National leaders came and went.

In 1970, a fire broke out in the president’s study. San Clemente’s volunteer fire department put it out quickly as Nixon, clad in pajamas and a bathrobe, watched. Later he visited the fire station to thank the volunteers. That day, he and Pat both cast their first ballots as San Clemente voters at Concordia Elementary School.

In 1971 Nixon ordered the Navy Department to give up 5.5 miles of Camp Pendleton beach for public recreation. The state parks department and the military signed a 50-year lease after a battle between Congress and the military. Camp Pendleton’s commanding general at one point decried turning the beach “over to the hippies.”

In 1971 the president visited Camp Pendleton to present the Presidential Unit Citation to the 1st Marine Division as it returned from Vietnam. In 1972 Nixon hosted Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato and announced plans to build the NASA space shuttle. A women’s liberation group picketed the Western White House because Nixon didn’t nominate a woman to the Supreme Court.

A 1972 community effort led by San Clemente Inn owner Paul Presley raised $9,000 for a bronze bust of Nixon, and 3,000 residents turned out with Pat Nixon at Plaza Park for its unveiling. At the president’s next arrival in July 1972, Mayor Art Holmes heard Richard Nixon call San Clemente “my favorite place.”

On July 4 the president spoke to the nation from San Clemente, announcing a bicentennial fete for America’s 200th birthday in 1976. Actor John Wayne paid a visit. During this seemingly happy Nixon stay in San Clemente, a clandestine effort was being made to cover up a bungled break-in at Democratic Party offices in the Watergate building in Washington.

At a press briefing, Nixon mentioned the Watergate break-in only briefly, discounting it and asking voters for a mandate, saying there was a clear choice between him and Democratic rival Sen. George McGovern.

In November, the Nixons voted at Concordia Elementary. The president drew laughs from reporters when he dropped his ballot. He won the election handily.

In 1973, South Vietnam’s president Nguyen Van Thieu visited as demonstrators outside, including actress Jane Fonda, shouted slogans. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev stayed overnight at the Nixon home and residents spotted KGB security men ambling up Avenida Del Mar buying playing cards and ballpoint pens at the Cornet store.

At a reception for Brezhnev, comedian Red Skelton approached the press section and said, “Hey guess what? I asked Brezhnev if he was a card-carrying Communist and you know what? He said yes.” Outside, American Jews protested the treatment of Soviet Jews. Later, Brezhnev went on TV from San Clemente to address the American people.

No sooner had Brezhnev left than Watergate began to close in around Nixon. He laid low during Senate hearings. Each day, the White House press corps pressed deputy press secretary Jerry Warren for answers.

During Nixon’s last San Clemente visit of 1973, he told the media that Watergate was “water under the bridge” and it was time “to move on with the business of the people.”

By December, there were reports that the Watergate investigation had reached San Clemente: the Ervin committee subpoenaed records of the San Clemente Inn where many White House staffers stayed.

Just before New Year’s Day in 1974, Nixon flew to San Clemente, signed some bills and attended San Clemente Presbyterian Church.

His final San Clemente visit as president was routine. Departing for Washington, he boarded his helicopter as he’d done many times before. On his next arrival, the day he resigned, he was home to stay.

For the next year, Nixon battled depression and a near-fatal bout with phlebitis. Security ratcheted down. Souvenir hunters stole “Home of the Western White House” city limits signs. Nixon appeared rarely in public even as his health returned, playing at Shorecliffs Golf Course, visiting the San Onofre state park he created and attending services at St. Andrew’s Methodist Church.

He met with old friends, former aides and political allies. China’s premier, Zhou Enlai, sent a get-well telegram. The Shah of Iran sent caviar for his birthday.

Nixon worked on his memoirs, eventually selling the San Clemente estate and moving to New York City in 1980.

Fred Swegles grew up in small-town San Clemente before the freeway. He has covered the town since 1970. Today he covers San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano. He was in the second graduating class at San Clemente High School, after having spent the first two years of high school in double sessions at historic Capistrano Union High School in San Juan. When the new high school opened, he became first sports editor of the school paper, The Triton. He studied journalism and Spanish at USC on scholarship, graduating with honors. Was sports editor of the Daily Trojan. Surfed on the USC surf team. (High school surfing didn't exist back then.) With the Sun Post, he began covering competitive surfing from the mid-1970s, with the birth of the the modern world tour and the origins of high school surf teams. He got into surf photography and into world travel. Has surfed on six continents (not Antarctica). Has visited 11 San Clementes. Has written photo-illustrated profiles on most of them, with more in the works.